Great Tunes for the Motorcycle Rider!!!

First, let me preface this review by saying that it is written primarily for the motorcyclist in mind but there are parts that apply to everyone.

I have been riding motorcycles for 5 years. I spend a lot of time riding. I'm a music person as well and enjoy music when I ride. Through the years I have used various different devices for music while I ride. First was the Sony sport Walkman. But since I rode lot and through a lot of back roads and rural area, I'd have to constantly keep searching for stations. This got old quick.

Then I switched to the Sony mini disc player. This was great about five years back and I used it for about two years. I was able to load songs on the mini disc and head out on the road and ride but if you are familiar with motorcycles you know that they vibrate and this vibration doesn't always mix well with moving devices (the mini disc). So I would experience skipping from time to time. There was nothing wrong with the Sony mini disc player it just wasn't the best choice for music on a motorcycle.

Next was the Sony NW-MS70D mp3 player. This I used for two years (until I purchased the Roady2 just a few days ago). This was by far the best, smallest and most reliable means of music I used, until the Roady2. The Sony NW-MS70D mp3 player has damn near everything anyone can want for music as long as you have the music on your computer to download to it. I have about 12 hours of music downloaded on it between the internal memory and the external memory. It is GREAT but I did find that I would have to keep updating my play list to add the new current music that comes out (this is expected with all MP3 players).

The ONLY reason I even started looking for a different music source is because I wanted to have access to the new music without the hassle of always having to download it which brings me back to a regular radio but that wasn't an option because I would have to constantly change stations because of my rural riding. So what's a person to do???? XM that's the answer. With satellite radio that solves the searching issue. I started researching different XM radios and came across one major roadblock. I didn't have an AM/FM radio deck on my bike (I ride a Vulcan 1600 Classic) and I have no intentions of trying to install one somewhere on my bike. So I was in search of a XM radio that I could use that didn't require a FM radio. Low and behold the Roady 2 came out!!!

The Roady 2 is the smallest XM radio out to date. All you need in order to use this on your bike is four things:

1. The Roady2 (duh....)
2. A cigarette lighter power outlet
3. Metal surface where you can put the antenna (I have it on my headlight housing)
4. Headset with an inline volume control (or some other helmet speaker system which will allow you to connect the audio out from the Roady2 to it such as a J&M CB)

It's as easy as that. I use the Roady2 with a headset with an inline volume control. This makes it very convenient to adjust the volume without having to go into the menu and adjust the Audio Output settings.

So far I have used the Roady 2 for a few rides and have been very pleased with its performance and it is nice to have current music as well as all the other music choices that XM radio offers. I have local weather and traffic as well as news radio and many more channels to listen to and enjoy. It is nice to pick a station and go on a 250 mile ride and not ever have to change the station because you are out of range.

I was determined to look for an XM radio that would work on my bike when I took a trip from Florida to South Dakota to Michigan and back to Florida this past summer. A few of the other riders had a Sirius radio on their bikes but the unit they had needed to be hooked into another source in order to listen to it. Since I don't have an FM radio on my bike and really don't have the room for it I couldn't go the same route those other riders in my group did.

This unit is truly the best route to take if you want to listen to music while you ride and it requires very little installation. It keeps your bike looking clean (not a lot of wires everywhere), which is what most motorcyclists are looking for. Who wants to clutter up their nice shinny bikes??

Let's talk sound quality. Since I have had the opportunity to use this unit on my bike and my truck in the last few days I have to say that the sound I get from the headset is GREAT, just as good as what I get from the truck. I can hear every little detail in the music. This unit plays great in my truck and sounds good there as well but that I expected. I had reservations about what type of sound quality I'd get from the unit by just plugging in a set of headphones especially because I can't really adjust the sound (treble or bass). I'm sure the more expensive the headphones the better the sound. I have tried two different brand headphones with this unit, Sony and Koss. The Sony headphones I knew always gave me better sound (from previous experience with my MP3 player) and true to its reputation I did get a better and deeper sound with the Sony headset.

I haven't had much time to ride many rural roads yet to test out the signal. I rode last night on a few back roads and never lost the signal once. I rode some roads that I was told that other folks tend to loose signals on their radio and I never did. There are two guys I ride with that have a Sirius radio system and they tend to loose signal for a few seconds on this specific road but I never had an issue with it. I will have to ride more and update this section of the review as I get more information.

As an FYI, I searched and read every review I could find on the Roady 2 before purchasing it to see if there were any other motorcyclists that had purchased this unit and wrote a review on it. But came up with nothing. There are a lot of reviews on the Roady 2 but none through the eyes of a motorcyclist. I hope this review helps other motorcycles that might be considering the Roady 2 as their music choice for their motorcycle.

Features about the Roady 2

7 different screen colors (Pink, Purple, Night Blue, Sky Blue, Red, Green and Orange) The Night blue matches perfectly with the blue LED lights I have on my bike (that's a plus for me!)

10 preset buttons with three different preset channels, which gives you the ability to preset 30 stations (Preset A, Preset B, Preset C)

Built in FM modulator. I use that when I'm not on my bike and I'm in my truck. This unit takes very little effort to move it from my bike to my truck; all I need in my truck is the cigarette lighter adapter and an Antenna. I decided to purchase an extra cigarette lighter adapter and antenna to keep in my truck so that I don't have to keep moving them back and forth from my bike to my truck. This makes the transition from vehicle to vehicle very quick and easy. If I didn't purchase the extra items then it would only take a few more minutes to move those two items from my bike to the truck. It's not that much of a hassle but I'm all for making things as convenient as possible!!

Dimensions: 3.97 in. W x 2.37 in. H x .75 in. D
Weight: 3.5 oz
Can't beat how small and light this unit is and no bulky cradles for it either.

My only complaint is that there isn't a volume control knob on the unit, but I understand why. Most people will be using this in conjunction with a radio, which has its own volume control. I fixed this issue for me by just getting a volume control adapter for my headset from Radio Shack for $6.59 (http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog_name=CTLG&category_name=CTLG_002_001_002_000&product_id=42-2559). It's a volume control unit that plugs into the audio output from the Roady 2 and I then plug my headset in to the other end of the volume control. The Roady 2 audio output plug is a 3.5mm (1/8) plug, which is the standard size of the mini stereo headset plug.

Here is a man that has made a holder/bracket to mount the Roady 2 to and then attach the bracket to your bike, http://www.hoonhardware.com/RoadyHolder/roadyholder.htm I’m not using this bracket because I was able to mount mine with what was provided with the unit but others might not be able to do that because there are so many different configurations of handle bars for bikes. This is a good option if you find that you are having a problem mounting the unit to your bike.

That's about it for now. If there are any updates that I have after using it more I'll be sure to add them here.

I hope this review was helpful for those motorcyclists out there as well as others that might be considering this item.